Review: SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson

Rating: 4/5 stars

I picked this book up amid my fantasy craze because I wanted to read a summery contemporary while it was actually still summer outside, and I was not disappointed. This book was cute and adventurous, I ended up really liking it.

Unfortunately, though, the book got off to a bad start for me. I felt like the first two chapters (chapter two especially) were way too long and drawn out, detailing almost every minute of Emily’s life. The book moved very slowly, and I found myself wondering why so many of those details were pertinent or even included in the story. It really bogged down the book right from the start, plus I was put off because I was noticing a lot of minor errors, things not really worth mentioning but that should have been caught by an editor. One example that really bothered me is this: Frank, as a high school student, was in charge of the bank deposits for his job. There is no way a teenager, who has been working at his job for only two weeks and isn’t even the manager, would be trusted to handle taking a large sum of money to the bank. That’s very unbelievable and unrealistic, and the one thing I want out of a book is a realistic story (just to clarify, fantasy can be realistic too, but it has to be realistic within its own world).

On top of that, something else that really bothered me in the beginning was that the dialogue was badly broken up. Someone would ask a question on the first line of a page, and the question wouldn’t be answered until the last line of the page, or sometimes even the next page. By the time it was answered, I had forgotten what the question was and had to backtrack to find out. It was common in the first couple of chapters for a one-minute conversation to span several pages because of all the description mixed in with the few lines of dialogue. This was very distracting to read and poor structuring in my opinion. Thankfully, this was really only a problem at the beginning, and the story did pick up quite a bit as I continued reading it. It’s honestly surprising to me how much I ended up liking this book after that rocky start.

So this book is about Emily, who’s ready to have the best summer ever, only to discover that her best friend, Sloane, has disappeared without a word. The only clue Emily has is a list she received from Sloane of thirteen things for her to do, tasks that are way beyond Emily’s comfort zone. Believing that completing the list will lead her to Sloane, Emily makes it her summer goal to accomplish all thirteen items.

Something I enjoyed was that Emily would say she was going to accomplish a specific thing on the list next, but then the next chapter’s title would be a different objective on the list. I liked that it was unpredictable in that manner, that Emily’s intentions turned into something else. It kept my curiosity piqued throughout the book about what she would actually do next. I was also glad to see that the things Emily was doing led her to take chances that helped her to grow and become more comfortable with herself.

When Emily mentioned that her playwright parents were working on a new script and were basically shut-ins during this time, I rolled my eyes because that’s just a way to write parents out of a young adult novel. I see way too often books where the teenagers are roaming free with no parental control, and that’s just so unrealistic to me. However, I am happy to say that this book did not live up to that expectation. Despite being engrossed in their play, Emily’s parents were still present in the book more than I expected, and they still disciplined her. I thought this was a much more realistic approach because, at least for me, my mom was very involved in my life as a teenager. We got to see Emily trying to evade her parents’ notice at times, which I totally get, instead of her just acting like they don’t care. Unfortunately, this was only the case with Emily’s parents. Frank’s parents, on the other hand, were completely absent and unresponsible, and I just cannot see two parents leaving their teenage son home alone for basically the entire summer. That is asking for trouble. So the absent-parent-syndrome still affects this book, but not as much as I originally thought it would.

For some reason, ever since about mid-college, whenever I read contemporary books with characters in high school, I always feel like I’m too old for those books. Like I would have loved them in high school when I could’ve immediately related to the characters because of our shared ages and stages in life, but now that I’m past that point, those books just don’t feel like they’re for me anymore. I loved contemporary when I was younger—in fact, it was the only genre I read for most of my childhood—but now I just struggle with it when it’s of the young adult category. Adult contemporary books or non-contemporary books (fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, etc.) with high-school-aged characters are fine though, and I have no problem reading those. But Since You’ve Been Gone is a young adult contemporary with a 17-year-old protagonist, and while I did really like the book, I know I would have absolutely loved it if I were still 16 or 17, when what Emily was going through was similar to my own experiences. It is really sad for me that I don’t feel like I can fully relate to young adult contemporaries anymore since a lot of them, this book included, are great stories that tackle real issues teens might be facing. That being said, I do not believe I will ever stop reading young adult contemporaries, but the number I read does decrease year by year.

I had a good time reading Since You’ve Been Gone. It kept my attention throughout the whole book in that I didn’t feel like I needed to take a break every few chapters, which is usually how I read. I do want to check out more of Morgan Matson’s books, although this one sounded the most interesting to me so I don’t know if I will like the others as much. Overall, I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a nice summer read about friends, a clean romance, a mystery aspect, and a great adventure.

Review: HUMANS OF NEW YORK by Brandon Stanton

Rating: 4/5 stars

I really don’t have much to say about this book. I’ve heard of both the blog and the Facebook page called Humans of New York, but I never followed either of them before. I saw this book at a library sale this week and it intrigued me, as I have a deep appreciation for photography, so I decided to give it a shot. I ended up really enjoying it.

The photographs are beautiful and candid, capturing the extremists as well as the ordinary people in all boroughs of New York. I’ve never been to New York, and I’ve never really had the desire to go because I don’t like big cities, but this book may have changed that for me, at least a little bit. I want to have the experience of New York City, at least once.

Honestly, looking at these photographs and reading the captions or quotations from the people in them was really eye-opening for me. There are so many people on this planet, and everyone is so different. I’m really only familiar with my own culture, but there are so many cultures out there, even just in New York, that I know nothing about, and I got to see glimpses of them through Stanton’s work in this book. I love seeing how people express themselves. And something I learned about myself while reading this book is that how I want to dress and how I do dress are totally different styles. I need to work on my own self-expression.

Review: LADY MIDNIGHT by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 4/5 stars

Dead bodies are being found all over Los Angeles with strange markings on them, four years after the end of the Dark War. Emma’s parents were found dead the same way, so she’s convinced that the deaths are related. She sets out to investigate the murders and, in the process of uncovering the truth, learns a lot about herself and makes new friends (and enemies). I thought Lady Midnight was a refreshing new Shadowhunter book.

I loved the prologue and it really got me excited to read the rest of the book. I learned about some things that have been going on in the shadow world since City of Heavenly Fire ended, plus I got a nice review of how the world worked.

I liked that Lady Midnight mentioned all the pertinent details we learned in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. After reading both books, I can say that I do not think reading Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy is necessary before Lady Midnight. In Lady Midnight, Clare tells us the outcome of the stories, but in Tales, we get the journey of the stories. The only story that I really think gives necessary information at all is “The Fiery Trial,” which features Emma and Julian when they became parabatai, as well as Clary getting a parabatai.

Lady Midnight was my tenth Shadowhunter book, yet I didn’t feel like the story was one I’d read before in this world. It was a new story and it was relevant to these new characters. I love that the story does follow new characters on the other side of the country that are not related to the people in the Mortal Instruments. (I get that Jace is like the “coolest Shadowhunter ever” but not everything has to involve him.) It broadened the world of Shadowhunters for me and showed that not all problems are big enough for the whole world and the Clave to get involved in, yet the story was still big enough to be important to Emma and Julian and their crew.

Speaking of our new characters, I like Emma a lot more in this book than I did in City of Heavenly Fire. I’m glad that she speaks and acts more like an adult now. She’s grown up a lot in the past four years since the end of the Dark War, when she acted about 8 instead of 12. She was less irritating in this book, which I greatly appreciated.

I also liked Julian a lot. He is such a great “father” to his four younger siblings, and I appreciated seeing his struggles to be a good Shadowhunter while also caring for his family. The family dynamics were much different in this book than we have seen before in Clare’s books, which was a breath of fresh air. I also love that Julian came from such a big family. He had four siblings, two half-siblings, and Emma, who lives with him at the Institute. So often in books I see characters being an only child or having one or two siblings, but having six siblings is rare. I’m glad that each of his brothers and sisters had a part in this story, too, and weren’t just disposable side characters. I hope they continue to play a big role in the rest of the series.

The tension between Julian and Emma was so strong, and I have no idea what’s going to happen to them. As parabatai, they aren’t allowed to fall in love, but a law cannot actually stop someone from feeling something. I am so glad it was explained WHY parabatai are forbidden to love each other, and it all makes sense. Somehow I feel like they will find a way to get around this by uncovering a new spell or somehow breaking their parabatai bond or something to allow them to legally fall in love, but I will have to read the next two books to see. Although the ending of the last chapter (pre-epilogue) has me shocked and I really don’t know what’s going to happen in the next book. Obviously something horribly wrong.

And the epilogue—that left me very confused. The thing did not actually occur to allow the thing that happened in the epilogue to actually happen, so how did it happen? Hopefully, this will be clarified in Lord of Shadows.

Another thing that left me confused was the short story at the end of the book, “A Long Conversation.” What is Clary’s issue and why is she dreading what she has to do? I hope this is addressed in another short story at the end of Lord of Shadows.

Overall, I really enjoyed Lady Midnight. I thought it was a strong addition to the Shadowhunter world and featured a great new cast of characters with a unique new problem to solve. I liked the ending and where the story is headed in the next book, and I can’t wait to go read it.

Do I think you need to read the whole Mortal Instruments series prior to reading Lady Midnight? No, this story stands on its own and all the facets of the Shadowhunter universe are explained as if you had never read the other books, so everything should make sense to a new reader. But do I think reading the other books will enhance your reading experience of this book? Yes, greatly so. Events that happened to these characters at the end of City of Heavenly Fire are addressed and having read that book will help those parts of this book make more sense. Plus, reading Clare’s other books helps you to be able to catch all the Easter eggs she planted in this book, which is just so fun.

Review: TALES FROM THE SHADOWHUNTER ACADEMY by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I wasn’t originally going to read this short story collection, but right after I read the prologue of Lady Midnight, a detail was revealed that intrigued me. Then I looked up this book and discovered it was about Simon, who I love, training to be a Shadowhunter. I had already hoped I would get to learn about that aspect of his story in Lady Midnight, so I decided to read this collection of stories before continuing with that book.

My ratings for each individual story:

1. “Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy”—3/5 stars. This is a good story to give some background on the Academy (not sure if it’s relevant in other Shadowhunter books, though) and to show how Simon is adapting to the “new” Shadowhunter world when he goes to the Academy to train. It also features how Simon is handling his relationship with Isabelle after not remembering their past together.
2. “The Lost Herondale”—3/5 stars. Simon is at the Academy learning to fight. Catarina Loss tells Simon a story of Tobias Herondale, in which Simon learns there’s a possible Herondale generation out there that don’t know they’re Shadowhunters.
3. “The Whitechapel Fiend”—3.5/5 stars. This story is about guest lecturer Tessa Grey teaching the students at the Academy about Jack the Ripper. Fans of the Infernal Devices (of which I am not one) will probably enjoy this story because it features Will and their young child James. I didn’t care for the characters, but this still is an interesting story. At the end we also see Simon writing a letter to Isabelle.
4. “Nothing but Shadows”—3/5 stars. This story is about the shy James Herondale, Will and Tessa’s son, as he goes to school and learns to make friends. I found this story to be way too drawn out, plus I didn’t really know (or care) who many of the characters were. However, I did enjoy the ending, and I think fans of the Herondales will enjoy this story.
5. “The Evil We Love”—4/5 stars. In this story, Robert Lightwood tells the Academy about his time in the Circle as well as sharing his own intimate history with the students. I enjoyed seeing the flashbacks to the 1980s and learning some more details to strengthen the original story in the Mortal Instruments. There’s also more drama going on with Simon and Isabelle’s relationship in between the lectures.
6. “Pale Kings and Princes”—3/5 stars. Helen Blackthorn comes to the Academy to tell a story to Simon and his classmates of her father, Andrew Blackthorn, and how he got involved with fairies. Also, Simon and Isabelle are trying to fix their relationship.
7. “Bitter of Tongue”—3.5/5 stars. Simon meets up with Mark Blackthorn and they have a chat. I think this story is relevant if you plan to read Lady Midnight because something important happens at the end with some of the characters present in that book. 
8. “The Fiery Trial”—4/5 stars. Part of this story is really weird, but the reason for that is eventually explained, and it made me appreciate what had happened. This story is ultimately about parabatai. Simon and Clary attend the parabatai ceremony for Julian and Emma all while considering the possibility of having parabatai for themselves. I would recommend reading this story before Lady Midnight.
9. “Born to Endless Night”—4/5 stars. Magnus comes to the Academy to teach, and then an abandoned warlock baby shows up on its doorstep. Magnus and Alec have a deep discussion, then Simon and Alec have a deep discussion, and then Simon and Magnus have a deep discussion. I enjoyed the honesty in this story, and I think it’s my favorite one in the collection. Some important decisions are made that impact the future of our favorite main characters, and my guess is that this story is pertinent if you plan on reading The Red Scrolls of Magic.
10. “Angels Twice Descending”—4/5 stars. Two years after entering the Academy, Simon drinks from the Mortal Cup and Ascends to Shadowhunter. This story wraps up the collection and ends on both a happy note and a sad note. [Spoiler: I am sad that George died because I could have seen him becoming part of the crew, but this side character’s fate felt inevitable, knowing how Clare writes her books. However, his death helped Simon choose a Shadowhunter name with meaning, so I appreciate that aspect of it. Still sad George died though.]

I liked that the stories were all connected in chronological order. I do not usually like or read short stories or novellas, but reading these all in order almost felt like reading an actual novel, except with really long chapters.

I was started listening to these as audiobooks, but halfway through, I checked out the book from the library to read along. I was pleasantly surprised to see that at the beginning of each story is a one-page comic-style illustration. I really enjoyed seeing these.

Overall, I enjoyed these stories, and I’m glad I read them before continuing on with Lady Midnight. I could tell a difference in Simon’s personality in this book compared to him in the Mortal Instruments, but that is to be expected since he lost all his memories, and also because this book was written by three other authors along with Cassandra Clare. He was more serious and less humorous, and his humor is one of the reasons I originally liked him, but by the end, I could see his old personality coming back.

For reference, you need to read all of the Mortal Instruments books before this one. I would also recommend reading the Infernal Devices prior to this book. I read only the first Infernal Devices book, and I wasn’t confused about any of these stories, so if you at least know the gist of that series then you will be fine. I would also recommend reading this book or at least looking at spoilers for all the stories before starting Lady Midnight.

Edit after reading Lady Midnight: All of the important details from Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy are explained in Lady Midnight, so that book will make complete sense even if you do not read this one first. It just depends if you merely want to hear the outcomes of these stories or if you want to experience the journey for yourself. I will say, though, that the one story I would recommend reading prior to Lady Midnight is “The Fiery Trial” because I think it is the most important story that pertains to the Dark Artifices trilogy, and also to the Mortal Instruments series. This is just my opinion though, and I know many other people prefer to read this whole story collection before continuing on with future books.

Review: DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson

Rating: 3/5 stars

I’ve been trying to read more classics since I graduated from school. This was the shortest one on my shelf, so I picked it up to fulfill that goal. So far, I have not found any classics that I love. There are a few that I liked and a few that I didn’t like very much, but none that really stood out for me. I had been fascinated by the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde since I was little and first heard about it. I even watched a black and white film adaptation at one time, which was okay. I was hoping that the book would be much better, the kind of classic I was looking for; but alas, it was only okay as well. I didn’t enjoy, and didn’t even finish, Treasure Island by the same author, so maybe I just don’t have good luck with Stevenson.

To be honest, the book didn’t really happen how I expected it to. I don’t know what I expected, maybe more science-y stuff and for the story to be from Dr. Jekyll’s/Mr. Hyde’s point of view (because what does he actually do when he’s Mr. Hyde?), but it wasn’t like that. It read more like a collection of case files, gathering multiple points of view on Mr. Hyde and his situation from lawyers and other doctors.

I actually wish I had been able to read this book without knowing that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person. It’s common knowledge about the story—it even says as much on the back of the book—but it wasn’t actually revealed until almost the end of the book, so I guess it’s technically a spoiler. I think it’s interesting that plot descriptions of classical novels more often than not include spoilers and no one seems to care; whereas, if someone spoiled a modern book, people would be up in arms.

I wish I could have read this book in a school setting so I could have discussed it with others and also received intellectual insights about it because this is the kind of story to provoke profound discussions.

I really enjoyed the last chapter of her book from Dr. Jekyll’s perspective and he tells us everything we wanted to know about him being Mr. Hyde. It is curious to me that in the beginning, he enjoyed becoming Mr. Hyde because of the refuge; he could do anything and get away with it because, as he said, he didn’t really exist. But over time the dark personality took over until there was no Dr. Jekyll left. I do wonder why, though, he didn’t require a potion to turn into Mr. Hyde after some time. I guess it is for the same reason he kept requiring a higher dose to return to Dr. Jekyll: his evil personality became too strong.

Was Mr. Hyde a subconscious personality of Dr. Jekyll, or was he his own person altogether? It seems to start out the former and end the latter, with Mr. Hyde becoming the dominant personality until that’s all that is left.

“His terror of the gallows drove him to continually commit temporary suicide, and return to his subordinate station of a part instead of a person; but he loathed the necessity.”

The Signet Classic edition that I read contains an afterword by Don Chaon that I really enjoyed because it read like an intellectual essay. He opened my eyes to a lot of details of the story. He even discusses many of the dozens of interpretations of the novel, which I found to be the most interesting. Because of the overarching vagueness throughout the story, many interpretations appropriately fit the narrative.

This book presents an excellent view of the dichotomy between good and evil. No person is all one or all the other but a mix of the two. Which trait is more dominant? I think that depends if we prefer to be Dr. Jekyll or if we prefer to be Mr. Hyde.

Review: THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 by Ruth Ware

Rating: 3/5 stars

I am fairly new to the mystery/thriller genre and, likewise, new to Ruth Ware. And I was slightly . . . underwhelmed by this story.

The story is that Laura is a journalist on a very small cruise ship, and one night she thinks she witnesses someone being thrown overboard. A few hours prior, she also meets a girl who she can never seem to find again. Convinced these two events are connected, she goes on a hunt around the ship looking for evidence that what she saw really happened and looking for the girl.

The beginning was really slow. The first 80 or so pages seemed to be only background and pretext before Laura boarded the cruise ship, and I found it to be rather uninteresting. This definitely doesn’t start out as fast-paced as all the reviews made it out to be. Nevertheless, I continued reading.

As a whole, the story as a whole didn’t pick up for me or get interesting until chapter 22. That’s when I sat up straighter in my chair and suddenly became invested in what was happening with the plot. But even after things started to get good in chapter 22, and I finally thought I was past the slow stuff, then there were like 15 pages in a row with no dialogue during a rather intense scene and I was just dying while waiting for something to finally happen again.

At the end of each section, there’s a snippet of email, text, news, etc. that occurs a few days in the future, and this was my favorite part of the book because it really built the suspense for the story. I would read it and then be instantly curious how the situation ended up there in a few days’ time. However, I will say that it did give me details that led me to guess events, so I guess you could say these futuristic snippets contained spoilers for the story.

Even though I didn’t guess the main mystery surrounding the woman who was in cabin ten, I found a lot of minor details to be predictable, such as evidence going missing, Lo making certain decisions, why the woman was on the boat, etc. And even the ultimate end seemed rather predictable to me, especially since one of the characters literally tells Lo everything that’s happening when there’s still more than 60 pages left of the book. She tells Lo the who, the why, and the how. All of the answers I wanted were given in the span of a couple of pages. It felt cheap because I didn’t even get to solve the mystery myself as a reader because all the details were just spewed in my face. I kept hoping that there would be some big twist after that, that the information we got was wrong, but the rest of the book just kind of happens as expected with nothing left to solve, and I was left feeling disappointed that there wasn’t more of a mystery.

The very ending, as in the detail that we learn on the very last page, was already something I suspected from the beginning. I didn’t understand the fate assigned to a certain character because it was as if the book was trying to tell me that 1+1=3. The ending as a whole seemed to have a disconnect from the rest of the story, and I just thought it felt way too rushed and sloppy, especially in contrast to the meticulously slow beginning. [SPOILERS IN ITALICS: We knew that Anne died a while back, so when we first learned that a body had washed ashore, I thought it was hers. Then we find out there’s a second body and Richard was dead, so his was the second body. Then Lo just assumes the first body was Carrie’s, but like did she forget that Anne had been dead this whole time? That made no sense to me, and there was no basis for thinking that Carrie was dead; she pulled that assumption out of thin air. Was the author trying to get me to believe that Anne’s body just got lost at sea? I have no idea, but I never thought that Carrie died. It sounded to me like she killed Richard. So when the end reveals an anonymous donation from “Tiggers bounce,” it’s clear that’s from Carrie because of the conversation she and Lo had prior. Was I supposed to be shocked that Carrie is still alive? Because I wasn’t. All I felt was not confused anymore that there were only two bodies if Lo claimed three people had died. Also, something else that really bothered me was that Carrie appeared in Archer’s phone as Jess and that was never addressed again. Who is Jess? Was that actually Carrie? Why was this important detail completely forgotten?]

Even though I haven’t read any similar books, the plot did not feel original to me. I don’t know specifically what, but something was just off about this book. I wanted to love it, but I ended up merely liking it; I wouldn’t reread it or necessarily recommend it. I guess I was expecting a fast-paced thriller, but I felt only slightly amused, not thrilled, with this slow-paced plot.

I think Ware’s writing is engaging for the most part, and the book was a quicker read than I expected it to be. She kept me interested in the small details of what was happening, even if I wasn’t overly interested in the plot. Even for the first half of the book that was pretty slow, I never really felt like I wanted to put the book down; I wanted to keep learning details to uncover the mystery, even when many pages would go by with no new information. Something I saw her do in The Woman in Cabin 10 that I thought was quality mystery writing was to address many of the speculations that readers might be thinking. To give an unrelated example, in a horror film when the little girl walks toward the scary sound down the dark hall and the whole audience is shouting at her to turn back. I didn’t feel like this book was like that. Instead, the main character, Laura, would question everybody and everything, even to the point of asking obscure questions that I never guessed she would have thought of. I really appreciate when authors actually write their characters with common sense like this, and this applies to any genre.

Even though I didn’t love this book, I want to give Ruth Wade another chance. I’ve heard that The Death of Mrs. Westaway is a much different style and a better mystery overall than The Woman in Cabin 10, so I might read that one by her next. I also want to try out other mystery authors and discover whose styles I prefer the most because I am definitely interested in delving deeper into this genre.

Overall, I had a good time while reading this book, but I don’t think it was anything special. The story didn’t keep me hooked enough to read the whole book in a day or stay up late to fit in another chapter. I was hoping for a thriller that grabbed onto me and wouldn’t let me go until I reached the last page, and unfortunately, that was not this book.

Review: WHAT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO BEFORE BREAKFAST by Laura Vanderkam

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I stumbled across this book when I was looking for a super short audiobook I could listen to this morning. Even though this book is mostly geared toward working moms, I think anyone looking to have a more productive morning will be able to gain insights from reading it.

Almost the entirety of what Vanderkam talks about regarding what successful people do before breakfast is to wake up early, such as at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., and then work out. Our bodies produce stress hormones in the morning and working out in the morning counteracts those hormones. Also, if you work out in the afternoon or evening, then you spend all day dreading it; however, if you work out in the morning, then you can get it out of the way and can enjoy your day.

Mornings are also great for quality time with your family before you become distracted by the work-day tasks and the post-work exhaustion. I want to implement early morning family time into my days in the future when I have kids.

Every day is full of possibilities, and "these hours are available to all of us if we choose to use them," Vanderkam says. Waking up early is so important because, as she mentions, sleep restores willpower and allows our minds to be invigorated when we first wake up. It allows us to be more productive during the day.

This quick audiobook reads like a podcast, which I really enjoyed. Listening to something like this was a great, motivating way to start my morning. "When you make over your mornings, you can make over your life. That is what the most successful people know."

Review: CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE by Cassandra Clare

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

City of Heavenly Fire was definitely my favourite book in The Mortal Instruments series. It was a great concluding novel that changed the dynamics of many relationships. It was full of suspenseful action, of ups and downs. I'm pleased with how the series ultimately ended, even though I didn't love everything that happened in this book leading up to that ending.

I'm so glad Clare wrote these last three books after the original trilogy because so much changed, and we got to know all the characters so well that I felt connected to them and invested in them in a much deeper way than I did after finishing City of Glass.

The only parts of this book that I didn't love were the scenes about Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorn children. I know that Clare included those scenes to give us background for and entice us to read The Dark Artifices, but I think that was the only point. We could have done without that entire storyline and this book would have ended the same and nothing major would have changed. I also thought Emma was super whiny and acted like she was about six years old, not twelve, so I didn't really care for her character.

*The rest of my review contains spoilers for City of Heavenly Fire if you haven't read it yet.* 

The relationships in this book were so rich. After I finished this book, I realized that I finally like Jace. I didn't like him in the first couple of books because he was so arrogant, and then in City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls he wasn't himself because he was possessed. In this book, however, he was changed, and he even mentions as much to Clary. He told her that she showed him what it actually meant to love someone, and she helped him not be so guarded after being raised by Valentine. He didn't like who he was before but he likes who he is now. I really appreciated that he developed in this way because of Clary, especially after how much she has gone through for him; Clary's a loyal companion.

Related to this, I'm glad Jace decided to take on the last name Herondale. He's had an identity crisis the whole series because he grew up as a Morgenstern but was then raised as a Lightwood until he found out he was actually a Herondale. He has spent the whole series wondering who he really is, and I think his decision to now identify as Herondale shows that he finally knows who he is and that's he ready to accept the truth. Before Clary he was mostly a Lightwood, but after his transformation because of Clary, he is now a Herondale, and it really represents him turning over a new leaf of life and growing into this new person.

While I'm still on the subject of Jace and Clary, I want to talk about that they finally got intimate with each other while in the cave in the demon realm. It's been coming for five books, and I'm actually surprised it took this long to happen, but I am glad that they waited. It would have felt forced and regretful had they done it earlier because now they really know what they mean to each other instead of merely just being boyfriend and girlfriend like any other couple. I don't understand when critics say that Cassandra Clare's books have a lot of sex in them because this was the first time I read about in the seven and a half books I've read by her, and even then it was rather discreet. I think her books are actually fairly clean, which I do appreciate.

I liked everything that happened in the cave in the demon realm, and I think that whole sequence was my favourite part of the book. I can't say why specifically, but I think it's because all the relationships were changing so quickly right then. Magnus and Alec finally got back together, which I was happy about, and I think their time apart actually strengthened their bond. Isabelle and Alec were as cute as ever, and I'm glad they're still together at the end of the book, despite what happened with Simon.

That was definitely the saddest part of the whole series: when Simon was forced to lose all his memories of Clary and the shadow world. I didn't cry (I have never, not once, cried while reading a book, and I don't know why), but I was still devastated. Simon has been my favourite character from the beginning, and he's so integral to the series that I knew Clare wouldn't just cut him out like that. I had guessed that Clary would go and "accidentally" meet him at school or something, but I didn't expect her to play the card that they had known each other when they were really little. I think that gives her more credence though, and I'm glad Simon was so willing to accept everything she, Isabelle, and Magnus had to say to him about the past. What I expected to happen was that the Clave would make Simon a Shadowhunter since Consul Jia said that they needed to find mundanes to Ascend to Shadowhunters. Simon is the perfect fit, but that didn't happen in City of Heavenly Fire, so maybe we will find out in Lady Midnight if it happened. (I haven't decided yet if I'm reading The Dark Artifices, but I might read it just to check in on all the characters I love from The Mortal Instruments because I know they show up at some point.)

Another sad part of this book was at the end after Clary defeated Sebastian with the heavenly fire in her blade (I liked that she kept it a secret from everyone) and Sebastian turns into Jonathan for a little bit. Clary finally got to see her brother for who he should have been all along. I just felt so bad for Clary because that's all she ever wanted, and for Jocelyn who had to watch her son die twice. I am glad that we got to see the true Jonathan in the end, though. As sad as it was, I'm also glad that he did die instead of living on to be the real Jonathan. When Jace was stabbed with heavenly fire, he lived on because he was mostly good inside, but Sebastian was mostly evil inside so it would have been such a blatant plot hole if he would have lived on too. That small moment of Jonathan was honestly a gift.

As far as Sebastian goes, how did he get so powerful in this book? He was a mere Shadowhunter, and then he suddenly became like this super demon in this book, unable to be destroyed or even harmed. I think a common flaw in fantasy stories that we, unfortunately, see here is when the villain suddenly gains god-like powers and becomes indestructible. It was unclear to me how this happened to Sebastian, but I just ignored it for the sake of the story. I did like that the Endarkened he created were stronger than regular Shadowhunters, but still able to be defeated. I had guessed correctly that the Silent Brothers wouldn't be able to find a cure for them. It's sad to see so many "Shadowhunters" die, but real life is brutal, and I'm kind of glad there was no mercy here. Cassandra Clare really plays with our emotions, and I think that's something that makes her a good storyteller. Not everyone lives after a major battle, and I'm glad that stays true here.

Lastly, even though I didn't finish reading The Infernal Devices, I was still familiar with the main characters from that series, and I was glad to see a cameo from Tessa and Jem at the wedding. (Also so happy that Jocelyn and Luke got married finally.) I think it's really neat that Clare overlapped the two series and put clues from the other one into this one. It makes the story that much richer to see them cross over two time periods like that. I was able to recognize quite a few references to The Infernal Devices in this book, but I'm sure had I finished the series I would have found even more Easter eggs.

Overall, I am so glad I finally got around to reading The Mortal Instruments. I was pretty hesitant at first whether I would like it or not, but I did. It's not my favourite series by any means, but I still really enjoyed the journey and especially all the great characters. (The characters were definitely the best part.) The book ends on a happy note that wraps up all the details we needed to know but also leaves the story open for more information to come. At the end, we know that Lillith is still alive and out there, and she's upset about Sebastian's death. Could she be the villain in Lady Midnight since it takes place a few years later and she's had time to regain some power? That is my theory.